The myth of the EU's "single voice"

The notion that the EU states will put up a unified block to Britain’s Brexit negotiations, forcing us to submissively settle for a less than acceptable outcome is simply a myth, says West Midlands MEP James Carver.

He said: “The economic imbalances - notably with Greece - and conflicting political interests between the three EU regions of the North, South and East, risk tearing the EU apart.

“There is no single strategy, no unified view, but rather a group of disparate self-interested nations, with their own agendas and their own needs, which the EU is struggling to reconcile.

“Just consider the refusal of Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia to accept an immigration quota system and forced resettlement and the migrant crisis in the South, leaving Italy stranded with record numbers of migrants arriving on its shores and the only response from her neighbours a threat from Austria to send troops to their border to stop migrants spilling over.

“Who knows where this will end – but it certainly does not mean that Britain’s negotiators are facing a unified front of 27 nations all beating the same drum.”

So many commentators will not tire of pointing out that Brexit is a fatal mistake and that national humiliation awaits Britain. They lament that a year after the referendum, the British Government has still not presented a clear roadmap of the negotiation